#ocean creature

I'm still thinking I might redo the boarder to try and neaten it up, but I stitched this without thinking about using a stabilizer on the back so it's a bit wonky, but otherwise I love how it came out, though I hated working with the metallic XD

Day 361# Tasselled Wobbegong

Today's animal of the day is the Tasselled Wobbegong (Eucrossorhinus dasypogon)!

Photo credit: Poul Erik Rasmussen

This species of carpet shark inhabits the shallow reefs along the northern coast of Australia, New Guinea, and several other nearby islands. As their name suggests, many (but not all) species of carpet sharks have relatively flat bodies and stunning patterns, which help them to blend in with the reef floor and also resemble the ornate patterns of some carpets/rugs. The tasselled wobbegong is probably the most unique-looking species of carpet shark, since, as its name suggests, its face is lined with special dermal flaps, called a beard, that resemble tassels on a rug and help the shark look even more like coral. They are a fairly decent size and can grow up to 5.9 ft long. That might seem small compared to something like a great white, but these guys are longer than I am tall, so I think that's a pretty good size (yeah, I'm short but still).

Photo credit: Rickard Zerpe

Tasselled wobbegongs are usually solitary and spend the day resting inside underwater caves or underneath rock ledges. Unlike some other types of sharks, wobbegongs don't need to keep swimming in order to breathe and can instead suck up water into their mouths and then out through their gills in order to get oxygen. During this time, they will occasionally snatch up any fish that mistakes them for a patch of coral and gets too close. They'll also sometimes lure fish and other creatures closer to them by wiggling their tassels to make them look like worms.

Photo credit: Leonard Low

However, most of their hunting is actually done at night, when they leave their dens and actively search the reef for prey. Their diet mostly consists of smaller species of fish, crustaceans, and cephalopods. Their wide mouths allow them to swallow larger prey animals; there was even one case of a 4.3 ft long wobbegong capturing and eating a 3.3 ft long brownbanded bamboo shark! Allegedly, these sharks will also attack humans unprovoked, but there's only one confirmed death caused by a tasselled wobbegong, which took place in 1940. They're certainly capable of doing serious damage to a person, but their sluggish behavior makes it unlikely that one would attack someone unless they got too close and the shark mistakes their hands or feet for a fish.

Photo credit: Lilly Palm

While this species is currently listed as of least concern by the IUCN, in some places the tasselled wobbegong is actually experiencing a population decline due to overfishing, the destruction of coral reefs, and water pollution. They're apparently often sought after so that their beautifully patterned skin can be turned into shark leather products. As a result, they're considered to be near threatened in places like New Guinea and the surrounding islands. Thankfully, they have some legal protections in the waters surrounding Australia, and so that population is doing pretty well. They also do pretty well in captivity, since even at night, when they are more active, they rarely stray far from their dens and so don't need a gigantic tank like open ocean sharks do.

Photo credit: Jon Hanson

The Pom Pom Crab, or Lybia Crab (also known as boxer crab) reside in the indo-pacific ocean, and always carry sea anemone around.

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